ok, how about I take the train. I did that once, it took 23 hours. TWENTY THREE FREAKIN HOURS from leaving the front door of my house (at the time) in chicago to reaching my destination in washington. there were times the train was flying along at the awe inspiring speed of 30mph for hours at a time. Not to mention that it was the middle of August, the AC was broken (wheee 90' and humid even at midnight), and amtrak didn't care. "oh, yeah, we'll get right on that".
Last time I took a train it whooshed along at 300km/h all the way to Madrid (180mph in old units).
It's quicker than flying once you factor in the travel to the airport, airport security, boarding, etc. Much nicer, too. You get a big seat with a proper table (if you want one) and huge bathrooms.
True, but nevertheless because geeks are predominately male it seems part of the following of Adafruit is just because it is a female geek running it that has some how managed to catch the popular wave.
I'm sure it doesn't hurt, but maybe her site is popular because is has a good vibe, sells good/fun products and has good support for everything.
Or maybe you prefer Farnell's approach to selling electronic components...?
Nope. Both major parties make robocalls, therefore they are both equally annoying. As long as this equality is preserved, the annoyance factor is canceled out and has no effect on the vote. Except, perhaps to increase voter apathy...for all I know that's the real reason for the robocalls: to prevent people from caring enough to vote.
So...theoretically one of them could stop doing it?
Sure, but they can't provide base load capability. You can't stop the country just because it's cloudy.
What it really means is that nuclear power stations need to be built by governments as 'infrastructure', not private companies with shareholders. No politician has the balls to do it though - anything with the word "nucular" in it is a political hot potato.
The bigger WOW here is that this is even a story. The key phrase in the summary is: "HAS THE OPTION" as in it's an optional feature. You know. One that you can turn off or on.
As long as you subsidize it with government loan guarantees that no other power source needs, sure. But then you're not actually competing on an even level.
It would be cheaper than wars in the Middle East, wars on terror/drugs, bank bailouts, automotive bailouts, or any of that other stuff government does.
And... long-term, you'd have a chance of getting some of that money back, unlike wars in the Middle East, wars on terror/drugs, bank bailouts, automotive bailouts, or any of that other stuff government does.
We can't rule out somebody smuggling an atom bomb into the plant and detonating it under the reactor, no, but stuff like Chernobyl/Fukushima is impossible with modern designs. Impossible.
Power stations high concrete walls around them and bunkers for the reactor. A terrorist could probably do more damage, more easily, by detonating that same bomb somewhere else (large city).
My issue with nuclear power has nothing to do with waste or deaths. Its simply a matter of cost.
Most of that cost (about 80%) is actually capital costs, not construction/running costs.
Basically: Nuclear power is a long-term investment and long-term investors want HUGE paybacks, guaranteed. If you can't guarantee huge profits then they'll invest in other stuff instead of your power plant. To garantee those profits you have to sell the electricity produced at a massive markup over what it really cost to produce.
Keep your 250K year half-life deadly radiation contained and fail-safe for virtual eternity.
Right.
The 250k half-life stuff isn't the dangerous stuff. It's not radiating much by definition. All you really need to do is keep it in large bricks (ie. not dust) and it's not much of a threat.
That's beside the point though. Only old 1960s atom bomb making reactors produce waste like that. New designs use up nearly all the fuel and very little waste is left over.
The Telcos know who's dialling 10,000 numbers per day and who isn't. They could shut down a robocaller in minutes if they were motivated to do so by a large fine.
After a while they'll stop working for shell companies and/or start asking for large deposits in escrow before they'll work for people who don't have a large physical presence in the country.
Good luck with that... the calls I get are either from American area codes, or call centers in India who are there just to scam people.
The hardware is on local soil.
Start fining people who install hardware that's subsequently used for robocalling. After a couple of large fines you can be damn sure they won't be installing equipment for any more foreigners (or will be asking for a million bucks in escrow as 'insurance' - same effect).
I just figured out Firefox no longer has a ROT13 viewer/editor.
This used to be a standard feature in browsers. When did Firefox lose it? I looked in about:config but there were no "ROT13" parameters. Is there a way to re-enable it?
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Why is that? Is it their diet? Or is being big considered attractive in their culture?
They live on Spam fritters, Spam "Musubi", etc.
Ref: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1578329/Spam-at-heart-of-South-Pacific-obesity-crisis.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obesity_in_the_Pacific
ok, how about I take the train. I did that once, it took 23 hours. TWENTY THREE FREAKIN HOURS from leaving the front door of my house (at the time) in chicago to reaching my destination in washington. there were times the train was flying along at the awe inspiring speed of 30mph for hours at a time. Not to mention that it was the middle of August, the AC was broken (wheee 90' and humid even at midnight), and amtrak didn't care. "oh, yeah, we'll get right on that".
Last time I took a train it whooshed along at 300km/h all the way to Madrid (180mph in old units).
It's quicker than flying once you factor in the travel to the airport, airport security, boarding, etc. Much nicer, too. You get a big seat with a proper table (if you want one) and huge bathrooms.
I wish she hadn't said that only grown ups are allowed to touch the circuit breaker box.
I can tell you've never seen what most kids do when they see a light switch (or any other on/off switch for that matter).
True, but nevertheless because geeks are predominately male it seems part of the following of Adafruit is just because it is a female geek running it that has some how managed to catch the popular wave.
I'm sure it doesn't hurt, but maybe her site is popular because is has a good vibe, sells good/fun products and has good support for everything.
Or maybe you prefer Farnell's approach to selling electronic components...?
oh look, a woman is re-packaging common components and 1960's-style "About" electronics books. Yay. Oh, and did we mention she's a woman?
She can't help being a woman any more than you can help being an idiot.
and the glasses... was that Ada from Adafruit industries?
D'ya think?
Nope. Both major parties make robocalls, therefore they are both equally annoying. As long as this equality is preserved, the annoyance factor is canceled out and has no effect on the vote. Except, perhaps to increase voter apathy...for all I know that's the real reason for the robocalls: to prevent people from caring enough to vote.
So...theoretically one of them could stop doing it?
Sure, but they can't provide base load capability. You can't stop the country just because it's cloudy.
What it really means is that nuclear power stations need to be built by governments as 'infrastructure', not private companies with shareholders. No politician has the balls to do it though - anything with the word "nucular" in it is a political hot potato.
i love it how the 'geeks' belittle the windows 64 gb tablet's space, while all I've heard is rave reviews about google's 32 gb laptop.
You won't be so happy when you find out how much space is left over after you install the OS.
Weren't android tablets dropping prices like this a year (and a half maybe) ago.
That was just healthy competition.
Windows RT? Not so much.
The bigger WOW here is that this is even a story. The key phrase in the summary is: "HAS THE OPTION" as in it's an optional feature. You know. One that you can turn off or on.
So....is it 'on' by default?
(wouldn't surprise me if it was)
As long as you subsidize it with government loan guarantees that no other power source needs, sure. But then you're not actually competing on an even level.
It would be cheaper than wars in the Middle East, wars on terror/drugs, bank bailouts, automotive bailouts, or any of that other stuff government does.
And... long-term, you'd have a chance of getting some of that money back, unlike wars in the Middle East, wars on terror/drugs, bank bailouts, automotive bailouts, or any of that other stuff government does.
1. Nothing is 'perfectly safe'. Nothing.
We can't rule out somebody smuggling an atom bomb into the plant and detonating it under the reactor, no, but stuff like Chernobyl/Fukushima is impossible with modern designs. Impossible.
Power stations high concrete walls around them and bunkers for the reactor. A terrorist could probably do more damage, more easily, by detonating that same bomb somewhere else (large city).
My issue with nuclear power has nothing to do with waste or deaths. Its simply a matter of cost.
Most of that cost (about 80%) is actually capital costs, not construction/running costs.
Basically: Nuclear power is a long-term investment and long-term investors want HUGE paybacks, guaranteed. If you can't guarantee huge profits then they'll invest in other stuff instead of your power plant. To garantee those profits you have to sell the electricity produced at a massive markup over what it really cost to produce.
Wikipedia has a page on it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economics_of_nuclear_power_plants
Keep your 250K year half-life deadly radiation contained and fail-safe for virtual eternity.
Right.
The 250k half-life stuff isn't the dangerous stuff. It's not radiating much by definition. All you really need to do is keep it in large bricks (ie. not dust) and it's not much of a threat.
That's beside the point though. Only old 1960s atom bomb making reactors produce waste like that. New designs use up nearly all the fuel and very little waste is left over.
Nuclear power could be a lot cleaner and less dangerous if we stopped using those old-fashioned bomb-making reactors, too.
Just wait until we start driving electric cars, etc. That's going to double the demand for electricity.
The Telcos know who's dialling 10,000 numbers per day and who isn't. They could shut down a robocaller in minutes if they were motivated to do so by a large fine.
After a while they'll stop working for shell companies and/or start asking for large deposits in escrow before they'll work for people who don't have a large physical presence in the country.
Good luck with that ... the calls I get are either from American area codes, or call centers in India who are there just to scam people.
The hardware is on local soil.
Start fining people who install hardware that's subsequently used for robocalling. After a couple of large fines you can be damn sure they won't be installing equipment for any more foreigners (or will be asking for a million bucks in escrow as 'insurance' - same effect).
a good number of robocalls are from your elected representatives or those trying to get elected. why?
That's self correcting. Eventually they'll figure out it loses votes.
Your proposed solution will not stop robocalls because...
It doesn't throw the parasites who installed the robots in prison then throw away the key.
The USA has more people in prison than any society in history but they're the wrong people.
iPad is shiny!
the avoidance of widespread use
You think that anybody who wants to take drugs isn't already taking them?
Taking away the profits would mean less pushers hanging around schoolyards and visiting teenage parties with "free samples".
Why ask me? Ask yourself.
Every single day, please...
I just figured out Firefox no longer has a ROT13 viewer/editor.
This used to be a standard feature in browsers. When did Firefox lose it? I looked in about:config but there were no "ROT13" parameters. Is there a way to re-enable it?